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Primary Resource

U.S. Senate Resolution 39 (June 13, 2005)

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In U.S. Senate Resolution 39, introduced on February 7, 2005, and
approved six days later, the Senate apologizes for not responding to the epidemic of
lynching in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. The resolution's co-sponsors included Mary
Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana, and George Allen, a Republican from Virginia.

Transcription from Original

109th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. RES. 39

Apologizing to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the
failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation.

Apologizing to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the
failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation.

Whereas the crime of lynching succeeded slavery as the ultimate expression of racism
in the United States following Reconstruction;

Whereas lynching was a widely acknowledged practice in the United States until the
middle of the 20th century;

Whereas lynching was a crime that occurred throughout the United States, with
documented incidents in all but 4 States;

Whereas at least 4,742 people, predominantly African-Americans, were reported lynched
in the United States between 1882 and 1968;

Whereas 99 percent of all perpetrators of lynching escaped from punishment by State
or local officials;

Whereas lynching prompted African-Americans to form the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and prompted members of B'nai B'rith
to found the Anti-Defamation League;

Whereas nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress during the first
half of the 20th century;

Whereas, between 1890 and 1952, 7 Presidents petitioned Congress to end lynching;

Whereas, between 1920 and 1940, the House of Representatives passed 3 strong
anti-lynching measures;

Whereas protection against lynching was the minimum and most basic of Federal
responsibilities, and the Senate considered but failed to enact anti-lynching
legislation despite repeated requests by civil rights groups, Presidents, and the
House of Representatives to do so;

Whereas the recent publication of `Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in
America' helped bring greater awareness and proper recognition of the victims of
lynching;

Whereas only by coming to terms with history can the United States effectively
champion human rights abroad; and

Whereas an apology offered in the spirit of true repentance moves the United States
toward reconciliation and may become central to a new understanding, on which
improved racial relations can be forged: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) apologizes to the victims of lynching for the failure of the Senate to enact
anti-lynching legislation;

(2) expresses the deepest sympathies and most solemn regrets of the Senate to the
descendants of victims of lynching, the ancestors of whom were deprived of life,
human dignity, and the constitutional protections accorded all citizens of the United
States; and

(3) remembers the history of lynching, to ensure that these tragedies will be neither
forgotten nor repeated.